Replace 2 780ti Classified with 2 290x Used Reference

[Sohaltang]

Miners are selling the reference 290x cards for 300$ each. I could sell the 2 780ti classified and pocket a good bit of cash. I think the performance would be about the same

 

[Wild Thing]

Do it !
Worth it for the enjoyment of new hardware to play with and sounds like you'd be alright financially too.
Enjoy!

 

[tulx]

That's a good idea. To conveniently recycle my post from another thread about cheap mining cards:

My experience with used graphics cards has been rather good. All the barely used mining 290'ies that are being sold now after the mining bubble burst are great deals!
[..]
Buying a mining card is safer than many people think - it was probably run in an open-air setup with good cooling and was not overclocked to reduce failure risk and keep power costs down. It was just run at 100% load - something that every card is designed for.

I'd definitely use this nice market opportunity if I were in your situation.

 

[h2co32]

Excellent advice! I never even thought about it like that. But yeah, the responsible miner would indeed try to keep those cards cool and in good condition. If flashed to a mining related bios, I'm sure they'd be willing to flash it back for you as well. I echo everyone else's sentiment, go for it!

 

[Sohaltang]

Do it !
Worth it for the enjoyment of new hardware to play with and sounds like you'd be alright financially too.
Enjoy!

Im sure I could get at least 600 each for my cards if not more. That would net me an extra 600$. I have never put any cards under water but extra 600$ would likely fund a decent water setup.

 

[tulx]

Excellent advice! I never even thought about it like that. But yeah, the responsible miner would indeed try to keep those cards cool and in good condition. If flashed to a mining related bios, I'm sure they'd be willing to flash it back for you as well. I echo everyone else's sentiment, go for it!

Yep. We might think of cryptcoin miners as the lowest sort of life-forms responsible for all evil in the tech industry (which, I'm still convinced, they actually are), but at least they are tech-literate people who know what they're doing and I'd definitely rather buy a card from a miner than some first-time overclocker who did god knows what to his card.

 

[Hauk]

Yep. We might think of cryptcoin miners as the lowest sort of life-forms responsible for all evil in the tech industry (which, I'm still convinced, they actually are), but at least they are tech-literate people who know what they're doing and I'd definitely rather buy a card from a miner than some first-time overclocker who did god knows what to his card.

well said

 

[Face2Face]

Yep. We might think of cryptcoin miners as the lowest sort of life-forms responsible for all evil in the tech industry (which, I'm still convinced, they actually are), but at least they are tech-literate people who know what they're doing and I'd definitely rather buy a card from a miner than some first-time overclocker who did god knows what to his card.

I would much rather buy a used card from a noob, then from someone who has had their card or cards running 24/7 mining. Most noobs won't even touch voltage and with current gen cards with built in protections like throttling using power targets and temp.... I would say it's much less of a risk.

Back on topic... Soltang.. seems like a lot of work for the same or similar performance, especially if you plan on water-cooling them. I would keep the $600 made and save it for 20nm.

 

[UaVaj]

would be wise to buy the 290x x2 first. test it. see if you like it. then sell the 780ti classy x2.

290x x2 will never be better than 780ti x2 classy (exception is bf4 and crossfirex).
however, once you refine the 290x near 780ti's level. for the effort and price difference. hardly worth the swap.

if you do move forward with this swap. keep up posted on your trial and impression.

 

[thilanliyan]

If you could find a better use for the cash, I would do it. Otherwise, no.

I don't know how much the noise will bother you but reference 290 cards can get loud if you don't want any throttling.

 

[Headfoot]

would be wise to buy the 290x x2 first. test it. see if you like it. then sell the 780ti classy x2.

290x x2 will never be better than 780ti x2 classy (exception is bf4 and crossfirex).
however, once you refine the 290x near 780ti's level. for the effort and price difference. hardly worth the swap.

if you do move forward with this swap. keep up posted on your trial and impression.

Or 4K where it is either tied, or faster http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ation_edition_crossfire_review/5#.U2P5PvldV8E. It's not too tough to get the reference 290xs to run without throttling, you only need to move up another 5-10% fan speed past "Uber mode" in a custom fan profile, which is only very slightly louder. Its at around 55-60% fan speed where it starts to get noticeably louder.

At 1440 the Ti's are going to be faster but not likely by all that much. I personally would "downgrade" a few FPS and get the cash socked away for 20nm

 

[Attic]

Yea, if you can get $400 or more in cash by the end of the deal then i'd do it.

If you are expecting to go water for the 290x xfire, then not worth it at all IMO.

Sell the 780ti's for $1100 in your pocket after fees/shipping. And buy the 290x's for $650 with fees/shipping. Anything more is gravy. I think the 290x's may go even lower though. ~$250. I'm seeing a pretty big scramble to offload the cards and there are some massive farms that are giving up in my area with upwards of 100 290x's.

I'd be interested in what you can actually put in the bank if you make the swap.

 

[MongGrel]

This was bound to happen, a bit surprised so soon really.

I imagine some of those mining cards been ridden pretty hard though.

Probably OK but still.

 

[lehtv]

Even a single reference 290X would sound more like a hair dryer than a graphics card. Now imagine two hair dryers on turbo while trying to play a game... No thanks. I'd stick to those awesome 780 Ti Classifieds.

 

[Majcric]

For me, this would could down to whether or not I was happy with my current setup. Saving money is great but obviously not always the best decision. If the Ti's are problematic why not try 290's, but if they're not I'd probably think twice about a potential headache.

 

[Virge_]

Yep. We might think of cryptcoin miners as the lowest sort of life-forms responsible for all evil in the tech industry (which, I'm still convinced, they actually are), but at least they are tech-literate people who know what they're doing and I'd definitely rather buy a card from a miner than some first-time overclocker who did god knows what to his card.

The jealousy is strong with this one.

You know the difference between someone in crypto and someone not in crypto? One of them thinks the other is wrong. The other wants to embrace everyone equally.

Keep on being the asshole in this situation.

P.S. My cards have been kept in comfort-controlled zones and are practically dust-free. My fans have never in their life exceeded 60% and the GPU's run a maximum of 72 degrees Celsius. Suggesting that buying one of my used cards which has been treated like a gem vs. some regular gamer who's cards are running 95C+ in their non-optimized airflow cases getting caked with dust/smoke/skinmicrobes/whatever is simply ridiculous and shows just how terrible a level of realistic understanding you have about.. well just about anything hardware related. Your ignorant bias shines through like a flood light.

P.P.S. I'm pretty sure I have a tech knowledge that surpasses about 10 of you combined (possibly even more if your blatant bigotry aligns with my assumptions about you as a person), so it's a bit beyond tech-literate. That's what truly separates us - you waste your spare time with mindless gaming, I use my spare time to teach myself new skills constantly and continue to make myself knowledgeable, technically skilled, and marketable for future job opportunities.. enjoy playing your shitty MMO and/or brain-dead FPS while I take 5 vacations a year and drive a Tesla. Maybe some day you might grow up enough for your opinion to reflect reality - until then please keep providing me with amazing material.

Toodles.

Infraction issued for personal attack/trolling -Mod Shmee

 

[Virge_]

Even a single reference 290X would sound more like a hair dryer than a graphics card. Now imagine two hair dryers on turbo while trying to play a game... No thanks. I'd stick to those awesome 780 Ti Classifieds.

Reference 290(X)'s are often far more stable.. unless you're buying Sapphire's cards, those things have always been tanks and that company is simply stellar.

Take any off the shelf reference 290x and remove the HSF/block and stick an aftermarket on it and it's just as good if not better than the gen2 aftermarkets.

Seriously, I have some air cooled XFX 290X's that give Sapphire Tri-X OC's a run for their money. It's pretty amazing!

 

[Sohaltang]

Yea, if you can get $400 or more in cash by the end of the deal then i'd do it.

If you are expecting to go water for the 290x xfire, then not worth it at all IMO.

Sell the 780ti's for $1100 in your pocket after fees/shipping. And buy the 290x's for $650 with fees/shipping. Anything more is gravy. I think the 290x's may go even lower though. ~$250. I'm seeing a pretty big scramble to offload the cards and there are some massive farms that are giving up in my area with upwards of 100 290x's.

I'd be interested in what you can actually put in the bank if you make the swap.

The 290x are literally 300$ each local. If I had a bigger psu I could likely trifire them. I game with a headset with decent ocercloxks and fans working hard anyway. Not sure if my extreme 4 z87 mb would let me run trifire. If so then I could break even but get a lil more fps.

Honestly my current setup can't push the fps I want at 120hz on new games with max settings.

 

[OCGuy]

Hope you keep some warranty recourse.

You are giving up x year's factory warranty, for cards that you know were ran @ 100% for extended periods, and possibly without any warranty at all.

You would be basically side-grading/downgrading on performance depending on the game, but mainly downgrading on more than one other metric.

 

[5150Joker]

You will save some money short term but will be stuck with AMD drivers.

 

[blackened23]

Are you sure mining cards are the wise choice. AMD's RMA rates went up 30% across the board during the mining boom. (mentioned at hardwarecanucks). 30%. Take that as you will. I'd say they're cheap for a reason, i'd say 400$ for a new in warranty card would be better. Or staying where you are. It's your money though. Regardless of manufacturer, 30% increased RMA rate is not something I would take lightly.

 

[Gloomy]

Are you sure mining cards are the wise choice. AMD's RMA rates went up 30% across the board during the mining boom. (mentioned at hardwarecanucks). 30%. Take that as you will. I'd say they're cheap for a reason, i'd say 400$ for a new in warranty card would be better. Or staying where you are. It's your money though. Regardless of manufacturer, 30% increased RMA rate is not something I would take lightly.

2% > 2.6%? Shock horror.

 

[Headfoot]

Are you sure mining cards are the wise choice. AMD's RMA rates went up 30% across the board during the mining boom. (mentioned at hardwarecanucks). 30%. Take that as you will. I'd say they're cheap for a reason, i'd say 400$ for a new in warranty card would be better. Or staying where you are. It's your money though. Regardless of manufacturer, 30% increased RMA rate is not something I would take lightly.

Do you have a link for that? I'm very curious, I've only seen speculation on both sides of the issue until now so I'd love to have some data. I checked their site but I wasn't able to find it, is it in the forums? Thanks in advance

 

[MongGrel]

The jealousy is strong with this one.

You know the difference between someone in crypto and someone not in crypto? One of them thinks the other is wrong. The other wants to embrace everyone equally.

Keep on being the asshole in this situation.

P.S. My cards have been kept in comfort-controlled zones and are practically dust-free. My fans have never in their life exceeded 60% and the GPU's run a maximum of 72 degrees Celsius. Suggesting that buying one of my used cards which has been treated like a gem vs. some regular gamer who's cards are running 95C+ in their non-optimized airflow cases getting caked with dust/smoke/skinmicrobes/whatever is simply ridiculous and shows just how terrible a level of realistic understanding you have about.. well just about anything hardware related. Your ignorant bias shines through like a flood light.

P.P.S. I'm pretty sure I have a tech knowledge that surpasses about 10 of you combined (possibly even more if your blatant bigotry aligns with my assumptions about you as a person), so it's a bit beyond tech-literate. That's what truly separates us - you waste your spare time with mindless gaming, I use my spare time to teach myself new skills constantly and continue to make myself knowledgeable, technically skilled, and marketable for future job opportunities.. enjoy playing your shitty MMO and/or brain-dead FPS while I take 5 vacations a year and drive a Tesla. Maybe some day you might grow up enough for your opinion to reflect reality - until then please keep providing me with amazing material.

Toodles.

I'd mention a few things but as you have the authority to bang anyone randomly I won't.

Please don't respond to trolls/personal attacks. Use the report button instead next time. -Mod Shmee

 

[UaVaj]

stay clear of: sapphire, his, power color and any manufacture who warranty is not transferable.

buying a used asus, msi, gigabyte is a no brainer. warranty is via serial number based on date of manufacturer regardless who owns it or from date of purchase from authorized retailer with receipt.